Speaker 1: Welcome into the Wednesday Bible Study. My name is Rick Burgess.
Speaker 1: In case we haven't met, host of the Rick Burgess Show.
Speaker 1: That's my day job Monday through Friday. If you'd like
Speaker 1: to find out more about the Rick Burgess Show, go
Speaker 1: to rickburgershow dot com. This is a Wednesday Bible Study.
Speaker 1: We have been doing this for about a decade and
Speaker 1: we thank you for being with us today. We are
Speaker 1: currently in the book of Job. If you'd like to
Speaker 1: go ahead and go where we are, you can go
Speaker 1: to Job nineteen today and we will pick up there.
Speaker 1: If you've missed any of this study or any study,
Speaker 1: you can go to the manchurch dot com. You'll see
Speaker 1: a drop down menu, click on map and you can
Speaker 1: watch archives or you can listen to archives in this
Speaker 1: current study, our studies pasted. Also at themanchurch dot com
Speaker 1: you'll find a complete hub for men's ministry. We provide
Speaker 1: a strategy that features high challenge followed by high equipping.
Speaker 1: We have speakers for the high challenge. We'll work with
Speaker 1: you with your event, and we also do our own conferences,
Speaker 1: usually one anywhere from one to three conferences a year,
Speaker 1: so look for those dates they'll be released for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six pretty soon. But you go there now you
Speaker 1: can find all of our resources for your small groups,
Speaker 1: and that's our main focus. We have curricula five different
Speaker 1: one ones right now, forty weeks each, and then we
Speaker 1: have number six coming out this fall. So if you're
Speaker 1: one of the churches you're in five and you're kind
Speaker 1: of wondering about six, it'll be out this fall, probably
Speaker 1: by August September at the latest. It's called the Standard
Speaker 1: and it is a forty week study of the Book
Speaker 1: of Acts, so look for that coming up.
Speaker 2: We also have.
Speaker 1: Individual resources for you if you would like to get
Speaker 1: these for the men in your life, or you are
Speaker 1: a man and would like to get those. We have
Speaker 1: thirty one and forty day devotionals, including our first ever
Speaker 1: full length book, which was released this year called Men
Speaker 1: Don't Run in the Rain. Is a great opportunity for
Speaker 1: me is I got to write a book about my
Speaker 1: iconic father and having biblical application to some of the
Speaker 1: things that he taught me throughout my life. And he
Speaker 1: was a great influence to many people, and it's been
Speaker 1: such an honor to share him with people that were
Speaker 1: outside of his sphere of influence. Through this book, so
Speaker 1: it's available wherever books are sold, but you can also
Speaker 1: get it at Themanchurch dot com. Also, we have started
Speaker 1: a new podcast about spiritual warfare.
Speaker 2: It's called Strange Encounters.
Speaker 1: Just look for wherever you get podcasts and search Strange
Speaker 1: Encounters with Rick Burgess. And we have five episodes that
Speaker 1: are already there this all important topic of what scripture
Speaker 1: has to say about the supernatural, and will have episode
Speaker 1: six out this week. So they kind of gets you
Speaker 1: set up for who we are if you just joined us,
Speaker 1: and a nice reminder.
Speaker 2: For those of you that may be familiar with what
Speaker 2: we do.
Speaker 1: So let's open up in a word of prayer and
Speaker 1: we'll jump right into Job nineteen. Lord, thank you, thank
Speaker 1: you for today. What an honor it is Lord to
Speaker 1: open up your Holy Word, and Lord, we just we
Speaker 1: want to glean today everything that you intend to the
Speaker 1: power of the Holy Spirit. In this ongoing narrative about
Speaker 1: Job and Lord, we're learning so much about you, we're
Speaker 1: learning so much about him, and also we're learning a
Speaker 1: lot about what it looks like to be a not
Speaker 1: so good friend. All of this, Lord, we see and
Speaker 1: help us to apply it to our own lives. And
Speaker 1: your Holy name, we pray amen. So let's go to
Speaker 1: Job nineteen. There's going to be some statements here that
Speaker 1: ought to be pretty familiar to you as we get
Speaker 1: deeper into this chapter.
Speaker 2: But let's kind of talk about where we are. Job.
Speaker 1: He has made his case over and over again that
Speaker 1: he is innocent. He does not know why he is
Speaker 1: being punished. He seems to be very aware that the
Speaker 1: punishment is coming from God. I've had a number of
Speaker 1: conversations even this week with people talking about the book
Speaker 1: of Job, and we all do continue to find it
Speaker 1: interesting that Job has never mentioned Satan, he has never
Speaker 1: mentioned demons. I don't know during this time what he
Speaker 1: and his friends may know or not know about Satan
Speaker 1: and demons. But he seems to completely understand that this
Speaker 1: involves his relationship with God. He doesn't know why, and
Speaker 1: he wants to know why, and he's pleading to know
Speaker 1: why God is allowing this to happen to him, or
Speaker 1: even causing it to happen to him and his friends.
Speaker 2: They're not buying any of that.
Speaker 1: They say, this is the theology we always have had,
Speaker 1: is the theology of retribution. The wicked get punished, period
Speaker 1: and Job keeps saying, well, I think we need to
Speaker 1: change that because I know that I don't have anything
Speaker 1: between God and me. I'm blameless, I'm upright. Anything in
Speaker 1: my life that is sinful I've dealt with. I don't
Speaker 1: have any unrepented sin, nor do I have current sin
Speaker 1: that I'm practicing, even though even though y'all seems so
Speaker 1: convinced that that I'm lying. So Bill, Dad has just
Speaker 1: wore them out again, and he just went back to
Speaker 1: thank you for your speeches. But we're not moving off
Speaker 1: this theology. So you're going to find now that Job
Speaker 1: is going to plead with his friends in the first
Speaker 1: six verses, and it really is kind of a sad
Speaker 1: and pitiful place where Job has found himself because he's
Speaker 1: in so much misery and he can't find any comfort anywhere.
Speaker 1: He's not hearing from God. What he's hearing from his
Speaker 1: friends is it's not helpful. And he is going to
Speaker 1: plead with his friends to stop tormenting him with these
Speaker 1: continued accusations. And he's really going to ask him, are
Speaker 1: you enjoying this? Are you enjoying exalting yourself and humiliating me?
Speaker 1: So he's gonna we know verse one is just telling
Speaker 1: us we're back to Job as the speaker. We've learned
Speaker 1: that ever since chapter four, that that's how the book rolls.
Speaker 1: So we get into verse two and Job says, how
Speaker 1: long will you torment me and break me in pieces
Speaker 1: with words?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 1: So, if you want to kind of see where we
Speaker 1: are in the timeframe, we're at about the halfway.
Speaker 2: Point of this ongoing debate. Now.
Speaker 1: Now, God's going to show up eventually and he will
Speaker 1: take hold of the conversation, but this is about the
Speaker 1: halfway point between Job and his friends, and Job wants
Speaker 1: a break in this. He realizes, we're going nowhere with this.
Speaker 1: Raise your hand if you've ever been there, We're going
Speaker 1: nowhere with this. Were discussing these things over and over again,
Speaker 1: and you're not giving ground. I'm not giving ground. Can
Speaker 1: we just stop? Can we just take a break from it?
Speaker 1: And he says, why are you continuing to crush me?
Speaker 1: If you look at the original language here, he's saying,
Speaker 1: are you enjoying considering me worthless?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: How long will you continue to just destroy me with
Speaker 1: these accusing words? And then he goes into verse three
Speaker 1: and he says, these ten times you cast reproach upon me?
Speaker 1: Are you not ashamed to wrong me? Now, let's not
Speaker 1: take ten literal here. This is kind of language that
Speaker 1: we use. Have you ever said this? I've told you
Speaker 1: this one hundred times, but it's really not one hundred. Okay,
Speaker 1: So so he's ten here. This use of this number
Speaker 1: just means you guys have done this a lot. It's
Speaker 1: probably more than ten, but he's using the word word
Speaker 1: ten here just to mean a lot. Okay, you have
Speaker 1: cast reproach upon me. And so this is this is
Speaker 1: like you attack me, and you don't really seem to
Speaker 1: be a shit aimed of this behavior. You're not even
Speaker 1: stopping to think, what if I'm wrong? Maybe I'm being
Speaker 1: a little rough on Job. We've known Job a long time.
Speaker 1: Maybe I need to step back and think about this.
Speaker 1: And he says, I don't see any of that. And
Speaker 1: this is where he's starting to kind of even almost
Speaker 1: suggests that they could be enjoying, you know, putting him
Speaker 1: down and exalting themselves. And so he goes on him
Speaker 1: for it, and he says, and even if it be
Speaker 1: true that I've aired, my.
Speaker 2: Error remains with myself. Okay.
Speaker 1: The bottom line is this isn't between you and me.
Speaker 1: Let's let's say there's something that is going on, even
Speaker 1: though he's been clear he doesn't know what it is. Well,
Speaker 1: even if that's true, you're not the judge of me. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is not between me and you, guys. It's between
Speaker 1: God and me alone. And what he's saying here is
Speaker 1: what business is this of yours? You show up here
Speaker 1: saying you're going to sit with me and comfort me,
Speaker 1: and somewhere along the way you've decided to act as God.
Speaker 1: Now you're going to be the one to tell me
Speaker 1: what God is doing as if you represent God, and
Speaker 1: is if you will now speak on God's behalf, And
Speaker 1: he says, whatever's going on here is between me and God.
Speaker 1: You really have put yourselves in a position that you
Speaker 1: don't have the authority. And he wants them to understand that.
Speaker 1: And he's just saying, just stop it, just just stop
Speaker 1: with all this, and and verse five he says, if
Speaker 1: you indeed, if indeed, you magnify yourselves against me and
Speaker 1: make my disgrace an argument against me. See there it
Speaker 1: is again, he saying, what you're doing here is you're
Speaker 1: elevating yourself and you're doing this in one of two ways.
Speaker 1: You're elevating yourself, either by putting me down or by
Speaker 1: building yourself up.
Speaker 2: There's two ways to do this, and I got news
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 1: Y'all are doing both. You're you're not just putting me down.
Speaker 1: You're you're you're you're building yourself up. You know some
Speaker 1: people do one or the other. You're doing both.
Speaker 2: You guys are a double barrel shotgun.
Speaker 1: Even though he didn't have double barrel shotguns there, That's
Speaker 1: probably what I would have said.
Speaker 2: Uh So in.
Speaker 1: Verse six, know then that God has put me in
Speaker 1: the wrong and closed his net about me. Now this
Speaker 1: is this is interesting. Here's Joe again. God is dealing
Speaker 1: with me. I acknowledge that he is my judge. I
Speaker 1: acknowledge that not you. And then he uses notice the
Speaker 1: net here who everybody here lasts have all of you,
Speaker 1: either when you were here last week or you you've
Speaker 1: gone back and caught up most everybody. You remember, Build
Speaker 1: Dad used this net analogy. So he he wants to
Speaker 1: take a specific analogy that Bill Dad used last week
Speaker 1: and said that's not your analogy.
Speaker 2: That God would be the one that would that would
Speaker 2: have me. Then that not you.
Speaker 1: Okay, so he's being very specific, cause that's directed right
Speaker 1: at build that. Okay, So now after six Job has said,
Speaker 1: I've made my case with you guys, Okay, I want
Speaker 1: this to stop. How long is this gonna go on?
Speaker 1: Are you enjoying this? Putting me down and lifting yourself up?
Speaker 1: But I want you to know I'm done with it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear this anymore. Anybody ever got
Speaker 1: to the point do you just finally say I'm done.
Speaker 1: It's funny because even in my and I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: be transparent with you, which I well those of you
Speaker 1: that may be new here today or out there, I'm
Speaker 1: always very transparent. I want to be teaching myself as
Speaker 1: I'm teaching here. I don't talk at you. I talk
Speaker 1: with you. We're all going through this, and I try
Speaker 1: to always make sure you understand that I that I'll
Speaker 1: share my shortcomings. I'll talk about the things I didn't
Speaker 1: do right. I certainly don't do everything right, haven't always
Speaker 1: done everything right. But the perfect standard is the God
Speaker 1: that we're learning about. None of us are that standard.
Speaker 1: So I will tell you this. This is a reputation
Speaker 1: even in my own family, and it's gotten better through sanctification.
Speaker 2: My brother. Now my sister.
Speaker 1: She she's of course the favorite because she was ten
Speaker 1: years younger than me and by the time she was born,
Speaker 1: my parents were trying to get into heaven. Okay, so
Speaker 1: she's she's gotten to do any all these things. She's
Speaker 1: you know, nothing, nothing's wrong with her. But when you
Speaker 1: get down to Greg and me, my brother who's close
Speaker 1: to me, that we we shared a two twin beds
Speaker 1: in a little bitty room all the way to we're
Speaker 1: adults and out on our own, and so so Greg
Speaker 1: has a short temper. He tends he had a temper
Speaker 1: that will fly. I don't have a short temper. However,
Speaker 1: my entire family will say, I'd rather Greg be against
Speaker 1: me than Rick.
Speaker 2: Rick has a long fuse. But when it goes, everybody
Speaker 2: needs counseling.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, he said, you know, he said, you know,
Speaker 1: Greg kind of just hits you with these little skirmishes.
Speaker 2: You know, he's upset for a minute.
Speaker 1: He kind of I build, and I build, I'm sitting
Speaker 1: on I sit on that launching pad and when I launch,
Speaker 1: it is it is an all out of sault. So
Speaker 1: so anyway that that, but so if I get to
Speaker 1: the point that I'm done, and I start saying I'm done.
Speaker 1: Everybody take a note, because it's about to get ugly. Okay,
Speaker 1: but I'm not short fused. But sometimes that loan build
Speaker 1: can actually be a worse result at the end because
Speaker 1: I'm gonna unload it all, okay. So Greg kind of
Speaker 1: lets off the air as he goes, so it never
Speaker 1: really builds up. I let it build and and so
Speaker 1: I've gotten better about that though, So because I know
Speaker 1: that's not not good if I'm upset or I got
Speaker 1: a problem, I go ahead and start talking sooner before
Speaker 1: I start getting really upset about it. But but and
Speaker 1: I remember Greg, on the other hand, talking about this,
Speaker 1: and I think, job is there. Greg give us an
Speaker 1: outline here? He would count. And I tried to tell
Speaker 1: a guy one time we were we were hunting in
Speaker 1: Texas and the guy was was picking at Greg. He
Speaker 1: was he for some reason decided to make Greg the
Speaker 1: focal point of harassing and he said something about Greg
Speaker 1: had made a shot or something and had missed a
Speaker 1: do or something, and in front of everybody. Now Greg
Speaker 1: didn't know this guy, I mean, we met him when
Speaker 1: we got there, and he said something to Greg and
Speaker 1: we were ride dating. Greg goes, that's one, and the
Speaker 1: guy look to me says, what did that mean? I said,
Speaker 1: you don't even get to three and uh and so
Speaker 1: so so so anyway, but so so so so job
Speaker 1: is done with this, and he said, I've had enough
Speaker 1: of this.
Speaker 2: So now he's gonna shift from these people.
Speaker 1: And now he's going, which we've seen him do, He's
Speaker 1: going to complain to God.
Speaker 2: Okay, I would take a note of this too. Now,
Speaker 2: some of this, you know, I want to this is careful.
Speaker 1: We never want to be disrespectful, and we certainly will
Speaker 1: not blaspheme God. But I will tell you that God
Speaker 1: already knows what we're thinking. He already knows what our
Speaker 1: heart is, and he's not afraid of our complaining. Are
Speaker 1: even our questions? Now, we don't blaspheme God, but I've
Speaker 1: been there. It's okay to to say I don't understand
Speaker 1: what you're doing. I trust you, I have faith in you.
Speaker 1: Any clarity you could give me be great.
Speaker 2: I don't. I'm not tracking with you right now. I
Speaker 2: don't know what you're doing.
Speaker 1: You know, you remember, if you've read my wife's book,
Speaker 1: she even got to the point you know where.
Speaker 2: She cried out to God.
Speaker 1: She said, I don't understand why you let children doc
Speaker 1: I don't get it.
Speaker 2: Uh And and.
Speaker 1: She said, but then the Holy Spirit made it very
Speaker 1: clear for her that in this process, because she even
Speaker 1: said to God, she said, down at the farm, she said,
Speaker 1: I said it out loud. I know that your son
Speaker 1: was crucified, but you got him back in three days
Speaker 1: three days. And she said she heard from God is
Speaker 1: clear through the Holy Spirit. What about all my children.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get your baby back too, But what about
Speaker 1: those that reject redemption? Those are my children, and I
Speaker 1: lose them every day. And she said, for the first time,
Speaker 1: one of the most profound things Sherry has said. And
Speaker 1: she said many She said, for the first time in
Speaker 1: my entire life, I finally had compassion for God.
Speaker 2: We're always worried about him having compassion.
Speaker 1: For us, But when you see his children rejecting him
Speaker 1: every now and then, it's probably all right to have
Speaker 1: compassion for God and maybe understand that He may be
Speaker 1: using you to save some of them, and at the
Speaker 1: end of it, he's gonna make it right with you too.
Speaker 1: So anyway, I mean, you go back to Stephen getting stoned.
Speaker 1: Who's standing there watching that, Paul, So why didn't Jesus
Speaker 1: step in and keep the stoning from happening when he
Speaker 1: was standing watching Steven defend him. Stephen did everything right,
Speaker 1: He even sees Jesus standing at the right hand the
Speaker 1: Father honoring him.
Speaker 2: But the stoning didn't stop.
Speaker 1: How many times I know once in the Book of Acts,
Speaker 1: and then in First Corinthians, Paul reverences back to what
Speaker 1: stoning of Stephen. So God allowed Stephen to die and
Speaker 1: suffer in a way that Paul never forgot. It was
Speaker 1: for the benefit of a child that was rejecting Jesus,
Speaker 1: that was brought into the fold, that then began to
Speaker 1: advance the kingdom of Jesus with the same gift set
Speaker 1: that God gave him. He just had it going in
Speaker 1: the wrong direction, and Stephen was used because Stephen's role
Speaker 1: was to serve him for a time and suffer publicly
Speaker 1: for the benefit.
Speaker 2: Of possibly argue argue against it. Possibly.
Speaker 1: Well let's just say this, I don't have to hastand
Speaker 1: on this one of the greatest Christians that the world
Speaker 1: has ever known. Okay, anybody think Paul hadn't had any impact,
Speaker 1: that's pretty big ministry. Okay, so, and Steven played a
Speaker 1: role in that. Steven played a role in that. So,
Speaker 1: so as we're looking at this now, Job was going
Speaker 1: to turn to God away from his friends, and he
Speaker 1: says in seven, behold, I cry out violence, but I'm
Speaker 1: not answered. I call for help, but there's no justice.
Speaker 1: Here's Job begin going. Lord, I know you hear me.
Speaker 1: Isn't that the thing that always kind of gets you
Speaker 1: just a little bit? I mean, there's no voicemail. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm not here right now. I mean when we're crying
Speaker 1: out to God, he hears us, you know. And so
Speaker 1: Job seems to know that. And he's saying, I've been
Speaker 1: I've been I've been wronged by these people.
Speaker 2: God.
Speaker 1: Uh you know what word he uses here in the
Speaker 1: original hamas violence?
Speaker 2: Violence?
Speaker 1: And and I'm being ignored by you. God, don't don't
Speaker 1: you see how I'm being treated? You know, not only
Speaker 1: am I suffering, which I think you're you're letting that happen,
Speaker 1: But now look a look at how I'm being talked to.
Speaker 2: I you know what does he keep saying? You can
Speaker 2: see it in a minute. I will defend me, help me,
Speaker 2: And and and he says, I'm not hearing it. An eight.
Speaker 1: He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass.
Speaker 1: He has set darkness upon my paths. This echoes of
Speaker 1: Jeremiah a little bit, doesn't it, When he was when
Speaker 1: he was down and out. Make a reference if you
Speaker 1: get time today or this week to Jeremiah three seven,
Speaker 1: you hear similar language about being hedged in darkness.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know what he's saying right here too. He says,
Speaker 1: I sense that I'm at an impasse. I sense that
Speaker 1: we're at a deadlock. You ever been there? I have
Speaker 1: nothing else to say.
Speaker 2: You know that.
Speaker 1: This is one of the things even in what I
Speaker 1: do for a living. When I we started getting into
Speaker 1: the new show that I've been doing for six months,
Speaker 1: one of the things that that that I really was
Speaker 1: ready to move on, to move on from, is there
Speaker 1: were certain topics that I just felt like in the
Speaker 1: latter years of what I was doing, I didn't have
Speaker 1: anything else to say about it. I mean, I had
Speaker 1: said these same things over and over again. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't have anything new to add to that topic.
Speaker 1: It's been said. You may agree with it, you may not.
Speaker 1: I don't have any new way to say fill in
Speaker 1: the blank. So I'd just rather move on. Let's do
Speaker 1: some new stuff. Let's talk about things that that that
Speaker 1: that haven't been running to the ground. Uh, let's have
Speaker 1: some new things to say. And that's kind of where
Speaker 1: Job is right now. He's like, I just I just
Speaker 1: feel like this is going nowhere, and maybe it's not
Speaker 1: gonna get any better. Look at verse nine. He has
Speaker 1: stripped me. He has stripped from me my glory and
Speaker 1: has taken the crown from my head. Now I'll take
Speaker 1: exactly what he's saying here. Remember that Job, before all
Speaker 1: this was very well respected far and wide, very well
Speaker 1: expected respected. He was a leader. Remember what they said.
Speaker 1: He's out there at the gates. Everybody knows who Job is.
Speaker 1: Let's hear from Job. Look at Joe Wow Job, And
Speaker 1: he said, I'll tell what you've done. My self esteem
Speaker 1: is gone. My self esteem is gone. And you know what,
Speaker 1: the honor that I once had, you've just taken it
Speaker 1: from me. Nobody wants to hear from me, and nobody
Speaker 1: wants to be around me. I am not desired.
Speaker 2: I have no self esteem, I have no honor. And
Speaker 2: then he goes to ten.
Speaker 1: He breaks me down. Now this he he's referring to
Speaker 1: here is God. I'm going to say that again. The
Speaker 1: he he's referring to here is God, he breaks me
Speaker 1: down on every side and I am gone, and my
Speaker 1: hope he has pulled up like a tree. Now, notice
Speaker 1: the point he's making here. You know this is that
Speaker 1: this is another little counter Remember Bill Dad last week
Speaker 1: he said, I'm gonna I've talked about how God sees things.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this theology of retribution for
Speaker 1: the wicked. It is also universal. And he starts referring
Speaker 1: to creation. Well, this is a little throwback over because
Speaker 1: Bill Dad, I assume, is still listening, and he's using
Speaker 1: analogies of nature too. He's saying, you know what, I've
Speaker 1: been torn down, and I haven't just been torn down.
Speaker 2: You take a tree, right, you've seen this.
Speaker 1: If a tree goes down but it still has the roots,
Speaker 1: it's got a chance it may bounce back. Job says, No,
Speaker 1: that's not me. I not only have I been torn
Speaker 1: down like a tree, I've been uprooted.
Speaker 2: There's no hope for this tree.
Speaker 1: This tree's never gonna be set back like and take
Speaker 1: root again because the roots have been pulled up like
Speaker 1: a tree. I've been broken down on every side. If
Speaker 1: I got knocked down in the storm, you would come
Speaker 1: over to me as a tree, and you would see
Speaker 1: the roots are up to I got nothing. I've been
Speaker 1: torn down and uprooted Verse eleven. He has kindled his
Speaker 1: wrath against me. Well look at this. God has kindled
Speaker 1: his wrath against me, and he counts me as his adversary.
Speaker 1: Now remember everywhere here, if you're with me and you're
Speaker 1: walking through this, everywhere you see he, you can put
Speaker 1: the word God. You know, there's almost a little bit
Speaker 1: of a we're a little squeamish with that. Ont we
Speaker 1: were real to stay with He's we know that may
Speaker 1: stand for God. It's a little bit squeamish. And because
Speaker 1: we don't we understand what Job's saying, we may not
Speaker 1: like what he's saying. We don't like to think that
Speaker 1: somehow that God might deem for us the best thing
Speaker 1: to be misery. We just rather not go down that road.
Speaker 1: We don't want to think like that. We don't want
Speaker 1: to be that. I don't want to consider that. That's
Speaker 1: all right, that's pretty normal.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: It's one thing not to desire it. It's quite another
Speaker 1: thing not to believe it.
Speaker 2: That's different.
Speaker 1: Because you can find people out there that will tickle
Speaker 1: your ears and say, not only do we not like it,
Speaker 1: we don't believe it. And then you'll have to tell them,
Speaker 1: do y'all ever do a Bible study on the Book
Speaker 1: of Job, And I'm gonna bet the answer is no.
Speaker 2: We do not so.
Speaker 1: And so that's the bottom line. God is doing this.
Speaker 1: He knows God is doing this, and he's trying to
Speaker 1: figure it out. Look here, God has kindled his wrath
Speaker 1: against me and counts me as his adversary. Now this
Speaker 1: is where Job is incorrect. He doesn't have this right.
Speaker 1: God's in control, He's got that right. But he thinks
Speaker 1: God's got something against him. He thinks God is doing
Speaker 1: pouring out his wrath on him over something that God's
Speaker 1: mad about. That isn't correct. Now that's important too. That's
Speaker 1: a big ee today. Okay, that's a big ee today.
Speaker 1: Don't always assume that the difficulty that you're in is
Speaker 1: because God's upset. There's many times that you have difficulty
Speaker 1: and God's not upset at all. He just knows this
Speaker 1: is what we need a for him to be glorified.
Speaker 1: Could be that be for our own refinement. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Bible tells us that difficulty produces a steadfastness. It
Speaker 1: brings us into a more appreciation for the holiness of God,
Speaker 1: makes us more dependent on God. It certainly humbles us,
Speaker 1: doesn't it, which is happening here with Joe? So this
Speaker 1: part Job does not have right. God is not angry
Speaker 1: with him. His anger and wrath are burning against him,
Speaker 1: he thinks. But here's the thing that's gonna blow your mind?
Speaker 2: Does anybody?
Speaker 1: And I have a problem with this, even with shows
Speaker 1: and movies, and I get ostracized for this. I'm about
Speaker 1: to tell you something's gonna happen in the future of
Speaker 1: our study. Are you okay with that? I'm also the
Speaker 1: kind of guy that'll tell you if you're watching a movie,
Speaker 1: don't get attached to that gutta.
Speaker 2: You know so?
Speaker 1: But but I'm gonna I'm gonna tell I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you this right now. God's angry with his friends. He's
Speaker 1: not angry with Job. God's actually angry with his friends.
Speaker 1: And You're like, well, why are they sitting there so
Speaker 1: comfortable while Job suffers? God does things the way he doesn't?
Speaker 2: Okay? So so he he he trusts Job.
Speaker 1: He doesn't trust them. Try and try that again. You don't,
Speaker 1: just don't just look down. That's that's a takeaway. Job
Speaker 1: is suffering. His friends are not God's anger. When he
Speaker 1: starts giving his speech to these friends, he's angry with them,
Speaker 1: but they're not suffering.
Speaker 2: He trusts Job. He is suffering. Hang on to that.
Speaker 2: That's a good one right there.
Speaker 1: So we're going to see that God is going to
Speaker 1: get really upset with these friends, and you know why,
Speaker 1: because their representation of God is incorrect. I'd write that
Speaker 1: one down. God's angry because people claim to be representing
Speaker 1: him and they're representing him incorrectly. We got some of
Speaker 1: that going on in our society right now. So if
Speaker 1: you don't know what a correct representation of God is,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get food by these Charlatans.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So that's why it's important to be here, and I'm
Speaker 1: so thankful that you guys are so so devoted to
Speaker 1: be in here every week. It's important and I commend
Speaker 1: you for it.
Speaker 2: So here we go. Verse twelve.
Speaker 1: His troops come on together and they have cast up
Speaker 1: their siege ramp against me, and they camp around my tent.
Speaker 2: So he's here.
Speaker 1: A lot of commentators think, even though he's still talking
Speaker 1: about God, he's almost seeing these friends, and he's comparing
Speaker 1: them to an enemy, to enemy troops. You know, their
Speaker 1: arguments against him are like a siege, a siege ramp,
Speaker 1: you know, where they're coming into battle and unwilling to
Speaker 1: refrain and listen. They are aligned together, all three of them,
Speaker 1: against me. So he's not just saying that he thinks
Speaker 1: God's against him. He looks over at this bunch and
Speaker 1: he says, well, look.
Speaker 2: At this group.
Speaker 1: It's like a bunch of troops aligned together, all on
Speaker 1: the same page, and every one of them are coming
Speaker 1: after me. They're like a siege on me. They're like enemies,
Speaker 1: enemy troops.
Speaker 2: So then.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to tell you if you have a
Speaker 1: soft heart. Thirteen through twenty is probably one of the
Speaker 1: more pathetic and pitiful parts of this entire book, because
Speaker 1: Job feels like that he is he's leaving his argument
Speaker 1: with God, and he's coming to the realization that he's
Speaker 1: been forsaken by his friends and his family.
Speaker 2: And this is a low.
Speaker 1: Moment for him here because he's still trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what God's doing. But then he goes, but I
Speaker 1: know what these people are doing that I can touch
Speaker 1: and I can feel, and I have been abandoned by
Speaker 1: everybody I thought that I could trust. Thirteen, He has
Speaker 1: put my brothers far from me, and those who knew
Speaker 1: me are wholly estranged from me. Now they do not think,
Speaker 1: because he's going to get here, the commentators here do
Speaker 1: not think he's talking about siblings, even though he will
Speaker 1: get to that these are likely What he means is
Speaker 1: fellow countrymen, even including these friends. He says, my own
Speaker 1: relationships are strained, my fellow countrymen, my brothers, my friends,
Speaker 1: I'm a stranged from all of them. Notice though who
Speaker 1: he blames for it are blames or is saying has.
Speaker 2: Done it God.
Speaker 1: God has turned my own my own friends against me.
Speaker 1: God has turned my own countrymen against me because I'm
Speaker 1: not being vindicated. So now they're mad at me for
Speaker 1: something that God's doing and God's not defending me. So
Speaker 1: then he gets into to fourteen. Now we're talking about relatives,
Speaker 1: because it says relatives, My relatives have failed me. My
Speaker 1: close friends back to friends again have forgotten me. So
Speaker 1: all family and all friends have left me. Fifteen The
Speaker 1: guests in my house and my maid servants count me
Speaker 1: as a stranger.
Speaker 2: He's saying, those.
Speaker 1: Who have known worked for me, worked with me, those
Speaker 1: that at one time honored me in the past, they
Speaker 1: see me now like somebody.
Speaker 2: They don't even know. They see me as a stranger.
Speaker 1: You've ever been in a situation like this, and you're like,
Speaker 1: when did When did the person I was?
Speaker 2: Change? Y'all? Y'all knew me, you know how I do things.
Speaker 1: You've seen me past, test after test, you see me
Speaker 1: do this, and all of a sudden, in this particular struggle,
Speaker 1: you've decided that I'm not the person that you always
Speaker 1: acknowledged I was. Now suddenly I'm a stranger. You know,
Speaker 1: where did I ever show, y'all that there was anything
Speaker 1: about me that you now can't trust? And you know
Speaker 1: what a feeling that is. And it's been throughout the
Speaker 1: book of Job. He continues to just be heartbroken, and
Speaker 1: if you've ever been there, you will be too. That
Speaker 1: they're not giving him the benefit of doubt because he's
Speaker 1: lived his life with integrity for a really long time.
Speaker 1: So Verse fifteen, the guest in my house and my
Speaker 1: maid servants count me as a stranger. I have become
Speaker 1: a foreigner in their eyes. Now look at sixteen. I
Speaker 1: call to my servant, but he gives me no answer.
Speaker 1: I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
Speaker 1: I'm so far gone now that I even have to
Speaker 1: beg my own servants, who at one time would the
Speaker 1: minute I said something, they would jump to it. If
Speaker 1: I said this is what we're going to do today,
Speaker 1: they'd do it. And now these same people that I
Speaker 1: used to have authority over. Now we're not talking about
Speaker 1: slaves here. We're talking about people that were being taken
Speaker 1: care of by job that worked his land, worked his
Speaker 1: worked his cattle.
Speaker 2: And all his camels and all this.
Speaker 1: And he had a great relationship with them, he said.
Speaker 1: But now the very people that used to work for
Speaker 1: me and respect me, I have to beg them. I
Speaker 1: have to beg them to show me mercy. Oh, how
Speaker 1: the mighty have fallen. My breath is strange to my wife,
Speaker 1: and I'm a stench to the children of my own mother.
Speaker 2: They're siblings.
Speaker 1: Now, you got them, and also the wife. Now there's
Speaker 1: a literal thing here, but there's also a figure thing here.
Speaker 1: Is it likely that job does not have great breath
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 2: Probably? So, okay, probably so.
Speaker 1: But but what he's really saying here in the figurative
Speaker 1: sense he's using that as an example, is that I
Speaker 1: got no relationship with my wife right now. My wife
Speaker 1: has told me to curse God and die. She's devastated
Speaker 1: by the death of our children. Do we see her
Speaker 1: anywhere right now? I mean, it doesn't say the three
Speaker 1: friends and his wife. Now, I want you to think
Speaker 1: about this. If if your relationship with your wife, if
Speaker 1: you're married in here, if your relationship with your wife
Speaker 1: is where it needs to be and it's healthy, do
Speaker 1: they just abandon you when you're struggling. No, my wife
Speaker 1: will be right there with me. Wouldn't you think she
Speaker 1: would be sitting right there with them. She might tell
Speaker 1: these idiots to leave and stay there by ourself, you
Speaker 1: know what. But she's nowhere to be found. And he says,
Speaker 1: so I've even really I'm despised, I'm seeing as despicable
Speaker 1: and undesirable by my own wife. And then he says,
Speaker 1: and I'm a stench to the children of my own mother.
Speaker 1: Apparently there are siblings involved, and he says, they don't
Speaker 1: even want anything to do with me. My brothers and
Speaker 1: my sisters or whatever they are. They don't want anything
Speaker 1: to do with me either, And he says in eighteen,
Speaker 1: this is something you see in our society so much today,
Speaker 1: which makes me sick. Even young children despise me when
Speaker 1: I rise, they talk against me. I mean, I'm so
Speaker 1: far gone. I'm so I've lost any honor, any authority.
Speaker 1: Kids don't even listen to me, Kids disrespect me, kids
Speaker 1: will say anything they want to to me. They don't
Speaker 1: think I'm of any value. You know, when you're an
Speaker 1: elder and young people disrespect you and mouthed off at
Speaker 1: you and don't don't show you any honor, it's a
Speaker 1: terrible feeling. We got a lot of that going on
Speaker 1: in our society right now. Young people have kind of
Speaker 1: lost respect for older men and women.
Speaker 2: It's ugly.
Speaker 1: And if you look around, their decision to do that's
Speaker 1: really worked out great. And so you know there's something
Speaker 1: to the gray haired folks. We're worth listening to. And
Speaker 1: Job says, you know what, I can't even get. I
Speaker 1: can't even get Your children don't even like me. They
Speaker 1: don't even want to be around me. So now look
Speaker 1: look what happens next. In nineteen all my intimate friends
Speaker 1: abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me.
Speaker 1: Now what is this right here? You remember when we
Speaker 1: talked about the circles. You know, you have your your
Speaker 1: your strangers or the farthest circle out. Then the next
Speaker 1: circle in and are lances, and then you get into
Speaker 1: that little circle in the middle. This is what Job's saying,
Speaker 1: the inner circle.
Speaker 2: They're gone. I mean the.
Speaker 1: People that were closest to me, those whom I have
Speaker 1: loved and at one time they love me. These are
Speaker 1: the people that I are, my confidants, these are my
Speaker 1: two am people. These are the closest people family and
Speaker 1: friends that I have that It doesn't get any closer.
Speaker 1: Use the word intimate here. It doesn't get any closer
Speaker 1: than our relationship. And now even these people have nothing
Speaker 1: to do with me.
Speaker 2: They're gone. Verse twenty.
Speaker 1: My bones stick to my skin, to my flesh, and
Speaker 1: I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. It's
Speaker 1: he says, you know what, And I'll Calhoun County this
Speaker 1: one because it can get a little convoluted.
Speaker 2: But the bottom line here is physically.
Speaker 1: I'm so far gone physically, I don't even know how
Speaker 1: I'm still alive. It's a miracle that I am still alive,
Speaker 1: and I must be hanging on by a thread, by
Speaker 1: the skin of my teeth. I'm barely How am I
Speaker 1: even here? How am I even here? And he's also
Speaker 1: this is a complaint because you know, if you if
Speaker 1: you've ever been with someone that you loved and they're
Speaker 1: suffering and there's and there's no hope as far as
Speaker 1: physically now hopefully they're redeemed. And you know, it's beautiful
Speaker 1: about the redeemed. I mean this just hit me today
Speaker 1: as I was kind of going over everything and I have,
Speaker 1: you know, someone that that I love that is days
Speaker 1: away from death, and I thought to myself, off, because
Speaker 1: he's fully redeemed. And I'm talking about getting a well done,
Speaker 1: good and faithful servant kind of thing, a life well
Speaker 1: lived for the kingdom and for the Savior that redeemed him.
Speaker 1: So right now, see I feel bad for him, But
Speaker 1: in days, he's gonna feel bad for me. That's all
Speaker 1: about to shift. See, right now, I feel like I
Speaker 1: have the upper hand. I'm like, well, I have my
Speaker 1: health and I have this and he's near death. But
Speaker 1: when he takes that step and his spirit for the redeemed.
Speaker 1: Now when that spirit is in glory and sickness and
Speaker 1: death are no more for him, and he's standing in
Speaker 1: the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will say
Speaker 1: to him, well done, good and faithful servant. He will
Speaker 1: not need me to pity him at all, and he'll
Speaker 1: begin to pity me because I'm still here and all
Speaker 1: the garbage and he don't have food with it anymore.
Speaker 2: It's a weird flip, isn't it.
Speaker 1: You know, you've been there by their beds before and
Speaker 1: you feel bad for them, but when they go, they
Speaker 1: feel bad for you.
Speaker 2: So let's go to where they're going. They don't want
Speaker 2: to come back to where we are.
Speaker 1: So so this is where he is. I'm hanging on.
Speaker 1: I don't even know why I'm hanging on. I'm ready,
Speaker 1: I just be ready. He's sorrdy told us he's ready
Speaker 1: for this to end, right, So that's not that's not speculation.
Speaker 1: He's told us that. So twenty one, have mercy on me. Twice,
Speaker 1: have mercy on me, ohe you, my friends, for the
Speaker 1: hand of God has touched me. Two he pleads to
Speaker 1: his friends again, have mercy on me. Don't you see
Speaker 1: that for whatever reason that I'm trying to figure out.
Speaker 1: God is against me right now, and you know what
Speaker 1: he's saying. Are you gonna be against me too? I mean,
Speaker 1: you see that I'm in trouble. Why would you choose
Speaker 1: to see that I'm in trouble that you too would
Speaker 1: be against me? Where's the encouragement about let's work through
Speaker 1: this and let's all figure out what God's doing. And
Speaker 1: God's touching you right now. But I wonder why would
Speaker 1: have been so much of it if you could have
Speaker 1: maybe doubted your theology like me and say, well, you know,
Speaker 1: I've never seen as opposed to saying and are we
Speaker 1: supposed to change our theology because of Job?
Speaker 2: Maybe what they've already said.
Speaker 1: Maybe you come in and say, I know Job, really, well,
Speaker 1: hang in there. God's doing something. We don't know what
Speaker 1: it is, but we're standing with you, and we know
Speaker 1: your integrity, and we'll get to the end of it.
Speaker 1: God will reveal this to you. We're standing with you.
Speaker 1: You know what they said, God's against you, and you
Speaker 1: know what, so are we, And he's begging them show
Speaker 1: me mercy.
Speaker 2: He says it twice.
Speaker 1: I think about Jesus, don't deny grace and mercy to
Speaker 1: people that I didn't deny to you. I know this
Speaker 1: is this is the We're not to the New Covenant yet,
Speaker 1: but Jesus has already taught us that. You know what, Hey,
Speaker 1: when you put me on the cross, I could have
Speaker 1: asked for angels to come take me off that cross,
Speaker 1: and I could have told my father.
Speaker 2: To wipe you out. And I didn't, and you deserved it.
Speaker 1: So don't take the grace and mercy that I didn't deny,
Speaker 1: and then you deny that somebody else. And that's what
Speaker 1: he's pleading for right now. So now we're going to
Speaker 1: get into to twenty two. Why do you like, God
Speaker 1: pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
Speaker 1: I've given you a pound of flesh and you what
Speaker 1: do you want two pounds? I mean, why are you
Speaker 1: acting the way God is act to me right now
Speaker 1: in pursuing me and just trying to pile on right
Speaker 1: I mean, job's like somebody throw a flag. I mean
Speaker 1: they're spearing me. I mean, God's got me on the ground.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no need to spare me just And
Speaker 1: that's really what he's saying. So now comes a testimony
Speaker 1: of hope. This is interesting right here, This is where
Speaker 1: this thing gets chills on you. This is the interesting
Speaker 1: thing about this book. It's almost like Job forgets everything
Speaker 1: he knows, and then he starts remembering the things that
Speaker 1: he knows.
Speaker 2: Right, you ever been there?
Speaker 1: I have, you know where all of a sudden, like
Speaker 1: I've forgotten all the things that God's done for me.
Speaker 1: I've forgotten what I believed and my moment, it's almost
Speaker 1: like I think something's changed, and God hasn't changed. And
Speaker 1: watch this shift right here. Okay, this is interesting here
Speaker 1: twenty three. Oh that my words were written, Oh that
Speaker 1: they were inscribed in a book? Hey, Job, they were
Speaker 1: We got them. And he's crying out for that. I wish,
Speaker 1: I wish this could be documented. Well, God did document it.
Speaker 1: Job is saying that I think people could learn from this.
Speaker 1: I want everybody I want on record that I was
Speaker 1: saying I was innocent. Well it is, we got it, Job.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to talk to him. Abut verse twenty
Speaker 1: three of chapter nineteen. I almost say, hey, Joe, remember
Speaker 1: that the time you want it to be written down?
Speaker 2: How about that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And uh so God did that? And look he wants it.
Speaker 1: He wants it in there good to look at twenty four.
Speaker 1: He didn't want it to be anything that's gonna be
Speaker 1: you know, kind of sorta in there. Okay, he said,
Speaker 1: I this may be seen as the highlight of this
Speaker 1: entire book of Job.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So so Job feared that he would die before he
Speaker 1: was vindicated. He wished that this was being recorded. It is,
Speaker 1: and this is, and he wants it to be something
Speaker 1: that would last forever. Look at twenty four. Oh that
Speaker 1: with an iron pen and led they were engraved in
Speaker 1: the rock for ever.
Speaker 2: It is. Isn't that great?
Speaker 1: So what he's saying is I want this to be
Speaker 1: if I go, let this be my epitaph. I wish
Speaker 1: it was right there on the stone wherever my body's
Speaker 1: going to be laid, that I was ben the I
Speaker 1: was crying out that I was innocent.
Speaker 2: Well, it was Job, and you know what we.
Speaker 1: Do have it Then comes twenty five, probably what you
Speaker 1: are real familiar with when you saw when people quote Job,
Speaker 1: they often quote this, and for good reason. Look at
Speaker 1: look at look at down twenty five. I'm going to
Speaker 1: ask you if you have something to write with and
Speaker 1: remember what we've talked about for years. Adrian Rodgers, thank
Speaker 1: you very much. The cheapest pen helps you with Bible
Speaker 1: study more than the greatest memory. Okay, what a great
Speaker 1: word of wisdom he had so many for I know,
Speaker 1: I want you under lie in their highlight, and I
Speaker 1: know for I know. I think that's interesting because he
Speaker 1: seems like he's been vacillating and now he's gonna come
Speaker 1: back and say, I know, you know, he almost seems
Speaker 1: like he's forgotten, but then he's reminding himself.
Speaker 2: For I know that my redeemer lives.
Speaker 1: And at the last he will stand upon the earth. Wow,
Speaker 1: I know that's huge. Redeemer. What is the word here?
Speaker 1: A redeemer mean? Now we know that, but just want
Speaker 1: to remind you. This means I know there's someone that
Speaker 1: will deliver me to make this right. Remember, he's already
Speaker 1: been asking for this. Now he says, I know this exists.
Speaker 1: He's clinging to this is going to be made right now.
Speaker 1: He doesn't know about the New Covenant. He didn't know
Speaker 1: about the New Covenant, but he sure is foreshadowing in it.
Speaker 2: I need a redeemer.
Speaker 1: How good does it feel to know that we don't
Speaker 1: have to wonder if a Redeemer is coming.
Speaker 2: He's already come. Have you been redeemed? Though? Do you stand.
Speaker 1: Guiltless before a holy God? Are you made fully righteous
Speaker 1: by this redeemer?
Speaker 2: Do you know his name?
Speaker 1: Have you left your own authority? Have you left faith
Speaker 1: in your own abilities? And just said I can't meet
Speaker 1: the standard. But Jesus you did, and I just give
Speaker 1: my life to you, and I turned from my sin,
Speaker 1: and I say you forgave me on the cross. You
Speaker 1: died for me on the cross. I acknowledge that had
Speaker 1: to happen. I acknowledge I need to be made fully righteous. Hey,
Speaker 1: partial righteous ain't gonna get it fully righteous under the
Speaker 1: blood of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and then the
Speaker 1: eternal life we got when he walked out of that.
Speaker 1: To him, I took care of the sin. I took
Speaker 1: care of the death, and everybody and me will stand
Speaker 1: before a holy Father fully redeemed.
Speaker 2: And vindicated. Which job is screaming for me? He says.
Speaker 1: I know it's possible, I know it's there. I know
Speaker 1: God knows that I'm not wrong. I just don't know
Speaker 1: how this is gonna work out, but I know it's
Speaker 1: going to Watch this he doubles down. He really senses,
Speaker 1: which is interesting because he seems like he's lost all hope,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden he kind of bounces
Speaker 1: back here and look at twenty six and after my
Speaker 1: skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh, I
Speaker 1: shall see God. He doesn't think he's going to hell.
Speaker 1: He said, it may be that God doesn't do this
Speaker 1: while I'm still alive. But I'm telling you, when I die,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stand before God and I'm gonna see him.
Speaker 1: He's not saying that God's gonna crush me or send
Speaker 1: me to hell. He is saying, I don't know why
Speaker 1: you're making my last days on earth miserable.
Speaker 2: I got no idea what you're doing. But I know this.
Speaker 1: I know that I'm right with you, and I know
Speaker 1: that if I'm not vindicated before I die, when I die,
Speaker 1: I will be vindicated. Do you have that hope? Do
Speaker 1: you have that hope? Can I go ahead and just
Speaker 1: let you in on something. As long as you live
Speaker 1: in this falling place, with all us falling people, we
Speaker 1: ain't never gonna treat you right. We'll have moments where
Speaker 1: we're okay. We're always gonna have some misconception about you.
Speaker 1: We sometimes might get caught up in gossip we shouldn't
Speaker 1: where we think things about you. We may see imperfections
Speaker 1: and try to elevate ourselves and say, well, I'm not
Speaker 1: as bad as that person. You know, there was one
Speaker 1: time my whole purpose on earth was to make people
Speaker 1: feel better about themselves and because of how wicked I was.
Speaker 1: But I will say this, if we're right with God
Speaker 1: through Christ. Cling to that, I know that I'm right
Speaker 1: with God. I don't I'm not perfect. I keep making
Speaker 1: mistakes because I'm being sanctified. But I know that when
Speaker 1: I die, I'll be glorified, not because of anything that
Speaker 1: I could.
Speaker 2: Do, but because what Jesus has already done right.
Speaker 1: And and you know, because just like we said before,
Speaker 1: this whole thing of Paul's straining and pressing on and
Speaker 1: working out his salvation, that's that's that sanctification, that's that fight,
Speaker 1: that's that Look, I'm not gonna be satisfied where I am.
Speaker 1: I want more of Jesus. I want more of the
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. I want to know his word. I'm working
Speaker 1: it out. I want to grow. I want to be
Speaker 1: able to handle the word. I want to be able
Speaker 1: to advance the kingdom. I want to know what to
Speaker 1: say when somebody asked me, where does my hope come from?
Speaker 1: None of that's earning this redemption. It's the response to redemption.
Speaker 1: It's sanctification. And then one day who glorification and the
Speaker 1: fight's over and we can we can, we can just
Speaker 1: stop the battle and say, flesh finally gone. Andy boy,
Speaker 1: you have been a nightmare. I'm glad to see you go.
Speaker 1: Right Well, job seems to know that's gonna happen. Look
Speaker 1: at twenty seven whom I shall see for myself talking
Speaker 1: about God now, and my eyes shall behold and not
Speaker 1: another My heart faints within me. I will see God
Speaker 1: and he will not be a stranger to me. And
Speaker 1: just the thought of me standing there in front of
Speaker 1: God just causes my heart to faint just thinking about
Speaker 1: that moment. Can you imagine? That was another thing that
Speaker 1: Adrian Rodgers always said. You can tell that I've been
Speaker 1: greatly influenced by Adrian Rodgers.
Speaker 2: Right after I was redeemed.
Speaker 1: He's one of the first preachers I started reading and studying,
Speaker 1: and he's such a great teacher and listening to old sermons,
Speaker 1: and I remember he said you know, people keep talking
Speaker 1: about the moment that they see God and the things
Speaker 1: they may say and the things they may ask. And
Speaker 1: he said, I I just want you to prepare you.
Speaker 1: It's possible, if not likely, you may just fall on
Speaker 1: your face and say Holy for a thousand years before
Speaker 1: you ever get up and ask anything.
Speaker 2: He's that overwhelming. He's that overwhelming. I will go ahead
Speaker 2: and tell you this.
Speaker 1: I don't think the great I am when we come
Speaker 1: rushing in and go, well there's Rick, Rick, what's your
Speaker 1: Q and A what are some things you want to
Speaker 1: run by me?
Speaker 2: That's probably not the way that's going to go.
Speaker 1: I think the time will come when, but I have
Speaker 1: a feeling when I first see his glory, I'll probably
Speaker 1: uncontrollably go on.
Speaker 2: My face and just say Holy.
Speaker 1: So so anyway, because that's what job saying. I think
Speaker 1: my heart will it faints within me to think about this.
Speaker 2: Twenty eight.
Speaker 1: He gives a stern warning to his friends, Hey, he's
Speaker 1: had enough, listen to this. He now turns. From that moment,
Speaker 1: I think, don't y'all think you go with me here?
Speaker 1: Brothers and sisters out there. I'm certainly not the final
Speaker 1: word on this, but I tend to think because he
Speaker 1: looked like he was kind of down, he was done
Speaker 1: with him, he was upset, kind of lost his confidence.
Speaker 1: And then he starts this this thing about I wish
Speaker 1: all this would be written down. And then he gets
Speaker 1: into the Redeemer. Then he gets sin to seeing God.
Speaker 1: I think that gives him confidence for these last two verses.
Speaker 1: I think it changes his whole countenance. I think he
Speaker 1: turns down and going, you know what, and now that
Speaker 1: I just remember that. Let me tell you people something,
Speaker 1: right you ever had that where you just somebody has
Speaker 1: to use just just like man, I'm not got no
Speaker 1: wait a minute, just hang on just a second, and
Speaker 1: you start kind of building yourself back up. Well, he's
Speaker 1: building God up, and he knows he's right with God.
Speaker 1: And he says to his friends, look at twenty eight.
Speaker 1: If you say, how will we pursue him? And the
Speaker 1: root of the matter is found in him. If you're
Speaker 1: blaming me for this, if you think I've brought this
Speaker 1: on myself.
Speaker 2: Look at this.
Speaker 1: Be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment
Speaker 1: of the sword. That you may know there is judgment.
Speaker 1: Now this is also Jesus t all a lot about
Speaker 1: this job. Didn't know that yet, but you know what
Speaker 1: he's saying. If y'all keep hounding me like this and
Speaker 1: you keep saying I'm the problem, look at you, Look
Speaker 1: at you, Look at you. You are the ones that
Speaker 1: are about to be judged. And you're gonna be judged
Speaker 1: because you made yourself judge.
Speaker 2: What did Jesus say?
Speaker 1: Just remember, when you're pointing out the speck in somebody's eye,
Speaker 1: you better get the log out of your own eye.
Speaker 1: And then he reminds us what you're gonna be judged
Speaker 1: by the same standard, and what you judge that person. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're pointing out that something is wrong, and you
Speaker 1: acknowledge that if you were doing that, it was wrong too.
Speaker 1: This Sometimes people take Jesus's teaching and they incorrectly interpret it.
Speaker 1: We had a whole generation that did this that thought.
Speaker 1: All Jesus ever said was.
Speaker 2: That, hey, don't judge.
Speaker 1: No, what Jesus said was don't judge incorrectly. Don't interpret
Speaker 1: that to say we can never say something's wrong based
Speaker 1: on biblical s standards.
Speaker 2: That's not what Jesus was teaching. He was saying, there'll be.
Speaker 1: A hypocrite, don't make yourself God, because you're not God.
Speaker 1: Acknowledge that you're imperfect too, and be sure you have
Speaker 1: your life in order before you decide to correct somebody else.
Speaker 1: What he said is correct people with yourself corrected first.
Speaker 1: Don't run out and be a hypocrite pointing to everybody
Speaker 1: and not realize you're health to the same standard.
Speaker 2: That's what Jesus was saying. And you know what, Job's
Speaker 2: kind of give us friends a little bit of that.
Speaker 2: I tell you we're.
Speaker 1: Gonna find out y'all think y'all are judging me, and
Speaker 1: you think I'm the one in trouble with God. I
Speaker 1: want you to be real careful because this sword you're
Speaker 1: slinging around, it's gonna be turned on you.
Speaker 2: By the way, that does happen. Job gave me just
Speaker 2: a little bit of be careful.
Speaker 1: Now, be careful with your little end zone dance on
Speaker 1: how bad I am, because I just remembered where I
Speaker 1: stand with God. And if you continue to hound me
Speaker 1: and say I'm the problem and God's punishing me because
Speaker 1: I'm wicked, and you keep talking about how wicked I am,
Speaker 1: let me tell you something. God's gonna point to you,
Speaker 1: how wicked you are. Of course it has no impact.
Speaker 1: They continue this narrative, but it's gonna start. It's gonna
Speaker 1: start lose thing a little bit. But there's so much
Speaker 1: to take away from this nineteen I just couldn't get
Speaker 1: enough of it, and I hope that it's helped you today,
Speaker 1: because the main thing to take away from this is
Speaker 1: God's in control.
Speaker 2: God's actually upset with the.
Speaker 1: Friends, not with Job. He's suffering. They're not, but he's
Speaker 1: upset with them, not Job, and that Job cries out.
Speaker 1: I know that this is all gonna be made right.
Speaker 1: I don't know how, but it is going to be
Speaker 1: made right. And then he turns around and says, and
Speaker 1: be careful how you treat the redeemed, and be careful
Speaker 1: how you judge me, because you're gonna be judged by
Speaker 1: that same standard. And if you're judging incorrectly, God's gonna
Speaker 1: punish you for that. And if you represent God incorrectly,
Speaker 1: God's gonna punish you for that. Let's pray, Lord, thank
Speaker 1: you for today, thank you for these incredible words, thank
Speaker 1: you for the study, thank you for the power of you.
Speaker 1: And Lord, I pray that you'll continue to mold us
Speaker 1: into the people that only you can make us. And
Speaker 1: I always, Lord, I just sinse anytime somebody may have
Speaker 1: stumbled across this Bible study, somebody is in the room
Speaker 1: with us that because of the Holy Spirit, and because
Speaker 1: of the cutting of the Word of God, that's you know,
Speaker 1: it's cutting me as I teach, it's cutting people as
Speaker 1: they hear. Maybe there's things that people right now go, Hey,
Speaker 1: that's what I need to hear. I got to get
Speaker 1: this straightened out. And today's day, for the first time
Speaker 1: or the first time they ever meant it, they say,
Speaker 1: I repent. I repent of this sin I keep justifying
Speaker 1: my life. I repent of the way I'm doing whatever.
Speaker 1: And they turn to you and they say, Lord, I'm
Speaker 1: leaving my own authority because I keep messing things up.
Speaker 1: It's time for me to toe submit to you, to
Speaker 1: deny myself, to count the cost to enter that narrow
Speaker 1: gate and just cry out, I can't redeem myself. You
Speaker 1: are the redeemer. Redeem me, Jesus, and then mold me
Speaker 1: into something that you're more comfortable with, and forgive me
Speaker 1: for trying to make you something I'm more comfortable with.
Speaker 1: And during our times of trouble or may we not
Speaker 1: be upset with you, but be wise enough to look
Speaker 1: to you if we're redeemed, and ask you, the teacher,
Speaker 1: what are you teaching me that we learn not to
Speaker 1: waste difficulty that you've allowed to be sure we get
Speaker 1: every benefit from it, and the glorious name of Jesus,
Speaker 1: we pray amen.
Speaker 2: All right, guys, thank you very much,